Is overnight diaper unrealistic with frequent nursing?

[elluin]

We recently tried to stop changing our 10-month-old daughter's diaper during the night because a lot of nights she doesn't wake fully (and because we could only find 12 month cotton sleepers with zippers, which wake her up). She nurses every 1-3 hours at night, but does not wake fully to nurse. Right now her night diaper consists of a tri-folded prefold under two doublers (hemp or bamboo) and we've added a layer of fleece even though we wanted to use natural organic fibers on her skin (this is all under a PUL cover though). When we change her, her diaper is completely saturated (including the fleece) and we've had a couple leaks. Is it unrealistic to expect a diaper to last the night while she is still nursing frequently? If not, should we be diapering her differently?

[cristeen]

You need more absorbency. My 16 mo has needed at minimum 2 trifold pfs for probably 6 mos now. But at this point we've also added 2 heavy duty doublers to that (1 loopy do, 1 hemparoo).

I love my Happy Hempy pocket fitted to hold all that. You can get it w a fleece inner to keep them feeling dry. Look for the OS w snaps, and not the Aplix (they just released the OS). They go on so much quicker and easier.

As for covers, even w all that absorbency, PUL is a guaranteed leak for us. So he wears wool. Babyology has been virtually bulletproof for us at night (some others havent been). On warm nights he wears longies and a l/s tee to bed. On colder nights, i put a blanket sleeper over that.

[elluin]

Thanks for the tips. We have a great natural baby store that hosts a cloth diaper "garage sale" - they had one last weekend and I was able to get some pockets, including Happy Hempy.

[sosurreal09]

My 16 m/o still nurses that much and we just have a flip stay dry at night. I use two inserts with the microfiber sides touching. Never had a leak! She even leaks through disposables!

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

DS still nurses several (many? LOL) times a night. I haven't been night-diapering him lately because of rash issues that I seem to have resolved, fingers crossed, and now I can night-diaper him again. I do get leaks on occasion with sposies, but I find a fitted with a hemp doubler and a fleece or wool cover is more or less bullet proof (I trust wool more, but my Swaddlebees fleece wrap seems to do a good job).

I only have two diapers I'd trust for night-time right now but they're both great - a Thirsties fitted (with a hemp doubler underneath) and a Motherease One-Size with a hemp doubler. Heck, the MEOS wasn't even completely soaked this morning, and DS nursed a lot!

Now that I know I can CD him at night, I'm planning on picking up a Happy Hempys and another MEOS. I should think 4 night-time diapers is enough..?

[orange_mommy]

Depends on the baby! My son nursed almost all night every night for three years, yet from the time he was an infant he didn't pee during the night. Not until morning when he was fully awake and then he would let out a flood during his morning nursing session and I would be soaked thoroughly every time! You never know if your baby may start doing the same thing at some point!